Metal ingots



Dec. 5, 1967 J. CHAMBRAN 3,

METAL INGOTS Filed Oct. 28, 1964 1 26,, 5 7X 4 I. e /8 H W 3 v 7 FIG 4- l3? "m 1 l N llhl 12 IN VENTOR 5 Jae U83 Chambrarz United States Patent 3,356,465 METAL INGOTS Jacques Chambran, Tarascon-sur-Ariege, France, assignor to Pechiney, Compagnie de Produits Chimiques et Elcctrometallurgiques, Paris, France Filed Oct. 28, 1964, Ser. No. 407,033 Claims priority, application France, Oct. 31, 1963, 952,423

3 Claims. (Cl. 29-187) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An ingot cast to prismatic shape having a flat bottom wall and a fiat top wall and vertically disposed side and end Walls with the side walls having a much greater length than the end walls and in which the ingot is formed with a notch extending inwardly from at leastone of the side walls throughout the height of the ingot from the bottom wall to the top wall and for a distance to include the major portion of the width of the ingot in the notched portion whereby only a minor section of the ingot extending continuously from the top wall to the bottom remains to hold the segments of the ingot on opposite sides of the notch. In the preferred practice, the notches are arranged in pairs to extend inwardly from the opposite side walls for a distance short of each other to leave a narrow section therebetween extending from the bottom wall to the top Wall by which the sections on opposite sides of the notches are joined.

This invention relates to. metal ingots and more par-' ticularly to a new and improved construction for ingots to enable stacking and to enable separation into separate segments.

To the present, ingots have been cast with horizontally disposed notches extending to the base to enable bending about their horizontal axes for separation of the ingot into segments. This present practice has a number of disadvantages in that the stacks formed of the ingots are subject to shock when the stacks are laid down during the handling operations. Since the notch is formed by a triangular prism extending upwardly from the bottom of the ingot mold, the portion of the ingot which remains unaffected by the notch is much thicker and breaks with increasing dilficulty when ingots of increasing thickness are cast in the same ingot mold. Further, the ingot mold formed of separated sections subdivides the mold into compartments so that one compartment receives metal only when the preceding compartment is filled to at least the height of the notch. This results in unsatisfactory equilibrium of the ingot by reason of the differences in the time of solidification to produce ingots in which the surfaces are undesirably at different levels. In practice, it is desirable that all parts of the ingot be cast simultaneously and to achieve this with present constructions markedly complicates the casting installation.

Thus it is an object of this invention to provide an improvement in the preparation of ingots to obviate these disadvantages and it is a related object to produce ingots which are resistant to shock caused by the handling of the stacks, which are easily separated into separate segments, in which the fragility of the ingot is independent of its thickness, and in which the ingots are properly balanced, and in which their base of large dimension is formed substantially flat.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will hereinafter appear and for purposes of illustration, but not of limitation, an embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective elevational View of an ingot embodying the prior art;

3,356,465 Patented Dec. 5 1967 FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the ingot shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of an ingot embodying the features of this invention;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the ingot shown in FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 55 of FIG. 4. I

In accordance with an important feature of this invention, the ingot is formed with at least one notch extending throughout the height of the ingot and formed in such a way that the corresponding cut is vertical.

In accordance with a particular embodiment of the invention, the described notches are formed in pairs with the two notches in each pair being disposed in substantially the same vertical plane perpendicular to the largest dimension of the ingot.

In FIGS. 1 and 2 there is illustrated an ingot 1 of the prior art having a base 3 at the bottom on which the ingot rests and a base 4 of smaller dimension'at the top with the opposite side faces 5 and 6 and end faces'7 and 8 generally tapered from bottom to top to define a prismatic section. A vertical notch 11 extends crosswise of the ingot intermediate its ends from the top base -4 downwardly for a distance short of the bottom base to divide the ingot into two sections for easy separation.

The illustrated structure has a number of serious disadvantages. For example, the ingots are generally assembled in stacked relation for distribution and delivery. Because of the inevitable differences in the height of the different ingots making up each of the layers, the ingots are subject to vertical shocks to produce strains by fiexure about a horizontal axis perpendicular to their length. It is me cisely along this axis thatthe presence of the notch increases the fragility of the ingot and often results in fracture. The ingot is cast in a mold which corresponds to the shape of the ingot but which is cast in an inverted form with the large base uppermost. The ingot mold thus comprises a prismatic section corresponding to the notch 11. This prismatic section separates the lower part of the ingot mold into two compartments which, during the casting of the ingot, are successively filled. The section which does not directly receive the poured metal remains empty until the metal overflows the first compartment. Since the ingot mold is generally unheated, the metal Which remains in the first compartment, while the second compartment is being filled, will become solidified. This results in a thermal imbalance which is demonstrated by the lack of balance in the shape of the completed ingot wherein the large base is no longer flat. It will be obvious that the pile of ingots will produce a relatively unstable stack.

Finally, when it is desired to cast ingots of increasing thickness in the same ingot mold, that portion of the height of the ingot above the notch increases and consequently the force to be exerted for breaking the ingot becomes increasingly greater.

The ingot represented in FIG. 3 and embodying the features of this invention has the same general configuration as that of FIG. 1 in that it is formed with a large base 3 at the bottom, a smaller base 4 at the top, and side and end faces 5, 6, 7 and 8 which define an ingot of prismatic shape. The notch which is intended to facilitate separation of the ingot into sections is formed in at least one of the large lateral faces 5 and/or 6. For reasons of symmetry and regular distribution of the material, at the time of casting, it is preferable to form the notches 12 and 13 in pairs in opposite faces to be disposed in the same vertical plane perpendicular to the largest dimension of the ingot.

This vertical arrangedment or notch or notches in the 0 side portions of the ingot has the effect that the force to be applied for breaking the ingot is exerted in a direction perpendicular to that of the vertical forces originating from the shocks during the normal handling of the stacks of ingots. The ingot maintains all of its resistance to such shocks while still remaining capable of breakage into separate segments with very little force.

Furthermore, the ingot mold is no longer subdivided by a vertical darn into separate compartments such that the filling thereof remains uniform throughout the crosssection of the ingot during metal pouring since all portions of the ingot are interconnected one to the other at all levels. Finally, the height of the notch is equal to the total height of the ingot notwithstanding the height of the metal poured into the same ingot mold. As a result, the force to be exerted for breaking the ingot varies only slightly with the thickness or height.

It will be understood that the described concepts can be employed to provide a number of such notches arranged in longitudinally spaced apart relation to extend vertically in the walls of the ingot for purposes of subdividing the ingot into a number of segments. Thus it becomes possible to divide an ingot into any number n of segments by providing a corresponding number of 12-1 notches or pairs of notches.

It should be noted that the slight variations in the breaking force to thickness can be corrected by the material retained, either between the single notch and the large unaffected opposite face of the ingot, or between the two notches constituting a pair formed in the same vertical plane perpendicular to the largest dimension of the ingot, starting with a section which varies with the distance of said section from the large face; this section may more particularly be increasing or decreasing, or decreasing and then increasing, or finally increasing and then decreasing.

The invention described is particularly suitable with ingots formed of aluminum or alloys of aluminum or of magnesium or alloys of magnesium and it is also applicable to other cast materials.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that I have provided a simple and effective means for the construction of ingots whereby the desired strength and stability is re- 4 tained in the ingot to minimize the effects of shocks during handling and stacking while still retaining the ability to break the ingots into well defined separate segments in response to minimum applied force.

It will be understood that changes may be made in the details of construction, arrangement and operation, without departing from the spirit of the invention, especially as defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. An ingot of prismatic shape having fiat bottom and top walls and vertically disposed side and end walls with the side walls having a length greater than the end walls and a notch extending inwardly from at least one of the side walls throughout the height of the ingot from the bottom wall to the top wall and for a distance to include the major width of the ingot whereby only a minor section of the ingot extending continuously from the top wall to the bottom wall remains to join the segments of the ingot on opposite sides of the notched portion.

2. An ingot as claimed in claim 1 in which the side wall is formed with a number of notches corresponding to 11-1 where n is the number of units into which the ingot is to be divided.

3. An ingot as claimed in claim 1 in which the notches are formed in pairs with one notch of the pair extending inwardly from one side and the other notch of the pair extending inwardly from the opposite side in crosswise alignment with the first notch whereby the minor portion of the ingot remaining therebetween is located substantially midway between the side walls.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 8/1963 English et al. 29--l87 1/1966 Arant et al. 29187 

1. AN INGOT OF PRISMATIC SHAPE HAVING FLAT BOTTOM AND TOP WALLS AND VERTICALLY DISPOSED SIDE AND END WALLS WITH THE SIDE WALLS HAVING A LENGTH GREATER THAN THE END WALLS AND A NOTCH EXTENDING INWARDLY FROM AT LEAST ONE OF THE SIDE WALLS THROUGHOUT THE HEIGHT OF THE INGOT FROM THE BOTTOM WALL TO THE TOP WALL AND FOR A DISTANCE TO INCLUDE THE MAJOR WIDTH OF THE INGOT WHEREBY ONLY A MINOR SECTION OF THE INGOT EXTENDING CONTINUOUSLY FROM THE TOP WALL TO THE BOTTOM WALL REMAINS TO JOIN THE SEGMENTS OF THE INGOT ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE NOTCHED PORTION. 